Final Fantasy Tactics is a 1997 tactical role-playing game by Square, set in the fictional world of Ivalice, where the noble Ramza is caught up in the Lion War between two factions fighting for a throne. Yasumi Matsuno, who had made the Ogre Battle series, directed and wrote it with a focus on class conflict and how history gets rewritten. Battles are turn-based and played on grid maps, with characters advancing through job classes. The game became a cult classic and has been cited among the greatest video games, selling over 2.4 million copies worldwide by 2011.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.